Day 5

Tuesday July 14, 2015

South Rim

Today we took the shuttle to the far western end of the South Rim trails. It was a long ride but we finally got to Hermits Rest. It was nice because there were very few tourists that went that far out.  If you are quiet for just a minute the wildlife starts to come out. We saw lots of different types of birds, lizards, and even a jackrabbit. We hiked along the rim from Hermits Rest trail head to the Grand Canyon Village (about 9 miles all uphill).  We started at an elevation of 6600 feet and ended at 7100 feet. There were some amazing lightening storms all along the North Rim that we watched all day.  It was a great day of hiking and sightseeing. We got back into town (Tuseyan) and had dinner at a fast food joint (ugh...lets not do that again) then hit the rack early.  Due to an egregious error in booking, our Mule ride into the canyon was actually from the NORTH rim, not the South rim (where we are staying). Even though it is oonly a mere 10 miles away, we will have to go around the Colorado river (oh, and the giant hole that it carved) and take a 4 hour ride to get there. So 2am is going to come early.

What we learned:

-The farther you are from a shuttle stop, the more peaceful the hiking

-Our new hiking-hydration back packs work great

-The views in the canyon never get old

-I need to look closer at material before booking reservations